#Projects
In August 2018, employees of Imperial Tobacco’s headquarters took part in research project Urban Safari – Day in the Fields. Any employees from the
Moscow office, including financial experts, lawyers, logisticians, accountants, could try on the role of Indiana Jones from the tobacco world and study
consumers’ behavior.
A
ccording to the rules of this safari tour,
a professional guide – merchandiser
representative was appointed for each
participant from the HQ. Owing to the Urban Safari
project, the employees learnt the specifics of work in
the fields, had a chance to communicate with sellers
and buyers, and formed their own opinions on
smokers’ demands.
and 17 – and covered points of sales in various areas
in and around Moscow. On average, each participant
visited 13 POS during a day. For merchandiser
representatives, the project was an interesting
opportunity to get acquainted with colleagues
and to take on the role of a guide in the
tobacco market.
Anna Matushkina, Trade
& Consumer Insight
Manager:
“The
key
objective of the project was
for office employees to learn
the specifics of merchandiser
representatives’ work. But in
addition to that, we wanted to
study how office workers changed their opinions
regarding the tobacco sale system in our country.
Office employees do not always comprehend the
entire specifics of work in the market, and such
projects help learn new information and broaden
their awareness.” Damir Alyautdinov, Merchandiser
Representative: “Within the Urban
Safari project, I had a chance to
communicate with the colleagues
with whom we do not interact in the
course of routine work tasks. The office
workers experienced the everyday of the specialists
from the Sales Department and learnt more
information about POS. Sometimes, the presence
of another person helped me in communication
with sellers: the workmate put questions to sellers
as experts, and they were happy to share their own
market insights. During my next visit, they even asked
me in some POS whether I was alone that day and
where my workmate was.”
All in all, 17 persons participated in the field visits.
The visits took place in two stages – on August 10 Just like in real chasing, a critical skill was the ability
to attentively listen to the buyers, sellers and to pay
ON AVERAGE 13 POS
DURING A DAY VISITED
EACH PARTICIPANT
The Империалист | | 23